1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electronic management of promotional coupons, and more particularly, to the real-time redemption of promotional coupons for goods and services, such as telecommunications and rebates, where the customer with the printed coupon is remotely located from the redemption agent.
2. Related Art
Companies issue promotional coupons for a variety of purposes, such as to encourage new customers to try the goods or services of the company, or to provide a simple accounting system whereby customers may give gifts of the goods or services to others. Coupons can also be used for controlling the redemption of rebates, registering a newly purchased product, receiving free time with a long distance telecommunications carrier, and enforcing trial periods or a free number of telephone calls with a telecommunications carrier. The coupons are usually printed objects, carrying printed indicia or a coupon number to prevent forgery. When the coupons are used in-person at a retail store, a store clerk may examine the coupon to verify by the printed indicia whether or not the coupon is valid. Upon successful verification, the store clerk provides the goods or services to the customer, and then collects the coupon to remove it from circulation (and from possible re-use). The coupon may also be sent to a central location for tabulation.
In the field of telecommunications, such as long distance telephony, it is also desirable to issue coupons to encourage new customers to the long-distance service or to enable giving of gifts of the service. However, unlike the situation in a retail store, a telecommunications operator processing the coupon, such as an operator in a long-distance network, is remotely located from the customer and from the printed coupon. Therefore, the operator cannot examine the printed coupon to verify its authenticity, and cannot collect the coupon after its use to remove it from circulation or to send it to a central tabulation facility. This remote use of coupons is further compounded by the fact that there are a variety of coupons, each having a variety of promotional characteristics, such as expiration date, type of service or goods, number of times the coupon can be used, day and time restrictions, and the use of cryptographic information to eliminate the possibility of forgery.
Therefore, there is a need for an electronic coupon management system wherein a database containing information for valid coupons communicates with a plurality of remote terminals, enabling telecommunications operators to verify or validate a coupon in real-time.